Michael Lang’s Legacy and the Saga of Woodstock

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

“The fence is down. Folks are coming over the top,” the minion told Lang, who then looked around at the scenario before his eyes, and said aloud, “Well, I guess we now have a free festival.” No one was prepared for what was about to take place.

Fans sitting on top of a painted bus at the Woodstock Music Festival.

Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images

Neither Lang nor his partner Artie Kornfeld were fazed by the rain that turned the ground to mud or the rush of bodies that stormed in, forcing the event to become “a free concert from now on.” During the festival, Lang told a reporter, “Everybody pulls together, and everybody helps each other. And it works.” He then laughed when he declared the event “a financial disaster.”